Kids' Crafternoon Blog Tour :: Beading & Felting

I blogged about the Kids' Crafternoon book series before - books one and two, Sewing and Papercrafts hit the shelves last summer and were a big success.
So, it's with great pleasure that I can announce here that Kids' Crafternoon Beading and Kids' Crafternoon Felting have come to complete the series and are available as of now!

Once again the books are compiled and edited by Kathreen Ricketson, who you all know from Whip Up.Net and they're published at Hardie Grant. Each book contains 25 projects for school aged kids (and beyond) by crafters/ bloggers/ artists from around the globe. Each project takes no longer then a couple of hours to make and can be executed with no or limited adult supervision. Templates are made available in a handy envelope at the front of the book. The instructions are clear as always and the illustrations inspire to get started right way. The projects are cute and make sense - and not just for kids. I, for one thing, had a great time making this Zombie Critter Charm below (a project by Lisa Tilse from The Red Thread) which has immediately been claimed by big girl M. All it took was some scraps of felt, needle and thread, a few buttons and a spare hour or so.

These books make a great present for under the Christmas tree or could be a source of inspiration for some great handmade holiday presents by your little ones! And if you're still in need for ornaments and Christmas decoration ideas then make sure to check out Kids' Crafternoon Beading!

Now you tell me, but wouldn't that Zombie Critter Charm make a great and personal teacher's gift?



To find out more about the Kids' Crafternoon book series also check out the blogs below - and if you happen to live in Australia and you'd like to take a chance at winning a copy of one of the books, check out the give-away at The Red Thread - entries are open until Monday, November 21st.

14 Nov - the red thread
15 Nov - soozs big adventure
16 Nov - mmmcrafts
17 Nov - // Between the lines //
18 Nov - Christine Chitnis
19 Nov - Chez Beeper Bebe
20 Nov - The Happy Zombie
21 Nov - a work in progress
22 Nov - loveinthemummyhood
23 Nov - jcasa handmade
24 Nov - picklebums
25 Nov - modern parents messy kids
26 Nov - little eco footprints
27 Nov - li'l magoolie
28 Nov - ohdeedoh
29 Nov - Simple Kids
30 Nov - sadie and lance
1 Dec - Poppytalk

Oh, and in case you were wondering - Yes! I did contribute to the Beading book with some macramé bracelets (Macramé Bracelet, p. 104) and easy ruffled fabric necklaces (Fragment Fancy, p. 56).

Kids' Crafternoon Blog Tour!

This is a very special post to me and I'm really excited about it.
Excited as in EXCITED, that is!

About a year ago I was contacted by Kathreen Ricketson, from Whip Up - if I'd be interested in contributing to a series of craft books for children? YES! Absolutely!

Well, this week the first two books in a series of four, all of them compiled and edited by Kathreen Ricketson, arrived in the mail: Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft and Kids' Crafternoon Sewing. There was a lot of oohing and aahing going on, I can tell you, when I opened the package and sat down with my girls to take a first look! And not just because mommy got a project in one of them (which made them very proud, by the way)! They went like 'I want to make this! And I want to make that!'

The books aim at children aged 7-12, but to be honest I think the books appeal to any age. Each book contains 25 really cool - and relevant - projects by contributors from all over the planet. The format is great (spiral bound), the photography and presentation of the projects outstanding, the instructions are clear and all the templates needed are made available in a nice pocket in the front-cover. This is a must-have book for the young (and not-so-young) crafter.

As a matter of fact we couldn't wait to get started. M. immediately fell for the Pocket Cushion (p.94) by Sharon Baldwin. Good thing I didn't throw out our old jeans when we moved a little while ago but kept them in a big box in the back of my closet. They saved our day...

So, here is the result of our first project from the book! Cute isn't it?! Everything's kept handy in those pockets and she uses the pillow as a book rest while reading, seated in her favorite sofa.
I think I want one, too!





And now, little H. can't wait to make the paper kite (p.32, Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft) by Rob Shugg...

For more details about the Crafternoon books head over to the Hardie Grant site, here and here.
Or check out one of the blogs participating to the Crafternoon Blog Tour.

1. 22 July Poppytalk
2. 23 July Picklebums
3. 24 July Little Eco Footprints
4. 25 July Beaspoke quilts
5. 26 July Maya Made
6. 27 July Checkout girl
7. 28 July The red thread
8. 29 July We Wilsons
9. 30 July Maggie Makes
10. 31 July Mmm Crafts
11. 1 August Domesticali
12. 2 August Floating Ink
13. 3 August Elizabeth Abernathy
14. 4 August Mommy Coddle
15. 5 August The Long Thread
16. 6 August Hannah Fletcher
17. 7 August Between the lines
18. 8 August Go Make Me